This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.

Here is a sample of this item:

by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery added 41 cents to $60.08 on the New York Merc, while Brent for February added 49 cents to $63.75, both benchmarks notching their second weekly gain in a row (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $13.30 to WTI, up from a discount of $14.00. Natural gas for January added 22 cents to $5.28. The TSX energy index lost 1.74 points to close at 311.38.

Oil sands giant Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNQ) lost 13 cents to $47.96 on 38 million shares, as it arranged a $1.65-billion note offering. It will sell one $550-million batch of three-years at 3.30 per cent, another $550-million batch of five-year notes at 3.75 per cent and a final $550-million batch of 10-year notes at 4.55 per cent. It will use the proceeds for catch-all "general corporate purposes" and potential debt repayment.

The offering comes shortly after similar moves by Suncor Energy Inc. (SU: $61.19), Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE: $25.35), Obsidian Energy Ltd. (OBE: $8.68) and other energy producers in recent months, all taking advantage of receptive debt markets. For the investment-grade Canadian Natural, they were particularly welcoming. Regulatory filings show that the company was initially shopping around a $1.5-billion offering of notes whose coupons would be, on average, 100 basis points higher than same-duration, lower-risk government bonds. In the end, demand was strong enough to hoist the proceeds to $1.65-billion while narrowing the coupon premium to just under 98 basis points -- more money at lower borrowing costs. (For context, the above Obsidian, in order to get people to buy its junk-rated notes last month, had to offer a yield about 530 basis points higher than the government's.) Canadian Natural expects to close its offering Monday.

The remainder is available to Stockwatch subscribers.
Sign-up for a FREE 30-day Stockwatch subscription and SEE NO ADS